SM-100 on my ELOS 120

[maglofster]

Previously I have built a DIY scrubber for my new 600 liter reef tank which sofar is a success. But I also have a one year old Elos 120 reef tank. This tank is pretty mature and all the corals are thriving, I have had one Acro showing signs of burnt tips which can be due to too much biopellets. After reducing the amount of Biopellets and increasing the dosing of Amino acids all corals really look their best, but now I have gotten into a fight with some sort of green cyano.

I have tried to build a DIY scrubber for this tank aswell but i didn't come out so well so I decided to try a SM-100. I ordered it and about a month later I recieved it in my local post office outside of Stockholm, Sweden. The box was a bit scuffed and looked like it had travelled around half the world (which it had) but the packaging was really exellent and everything was in very good condition.

The build quality is 100% good, very very nice indeed.

I'll post some pictures later, both of the install in the sump, but also of my green cyano infested tank. It's going to be interesting to see if it clears up! :)

[mrbncal]

Cant wait to see pics of the setup .

[maglofster]

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4101/5603229244_2ec0db0284.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58065777@N04/5603229244/)

My messy sump cabinet.. I took away the upper frame on the sump to get a better placement of the ATS.

[SantaMonica]

Good job fitting it in there :)

[maglofster]

A bit tight but it fits quite good I think! since I added the extra bit of tubing is virtually soundless! :)

[maglofster]

This is two days of growth! On a brand new media.. Green all over! It's sick!!! :)
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4103/5605532796_3d75d67a6a.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58065777@N04/5605532796/)

[maglofster]

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5065/5623620827_5fd18d7bc8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58065777@N04/5623620827/)
This is first 7 days of growth. The tank is quite mature and N & P are pretty low. I don't know if this is all right or not for the first week.

[SantaMonica]

Seems about perfect.

[maglofster]

Three days after first cleaning I can report that the growth looks massive. It's gonna be exiting to clean it on saturday.

[maglofster]

I spy with my little eye - 3D growth!

[maglofster]

This is the FTS by the way.
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5105/5637441812_b6271d6863_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58065777@N04/5637441812/)


All green (except obvious coral growth) is some sort of cyano I have been battling for quite some time. Eager to see if scrubber can help me get rid of this.

[spideybry]

Beautiful tank. Are you running a skimmer on the set up as well? I thought I saw one in the sump on the right hand side but I am not sure.

Also are you doing WCs or just dosing?

[maglofster]

Thanks!

Yes I'm running a skimmer so far. The Scrubber has only been running for a week and a half. I have removed all filtersocks and such though. I have been doing PWC:s about once a week, but I have now stopped that. I'm dosing KH, CA, MG as needed.

[SantaMonica]

Looks like a fishing pier at the top :)

[maglofster]

AMAZING!!!!!

It took five weeks. All of the cyano in previous pics = GONE! :D

I will post pics as soon as I can manage. I am a very happy camper right now!!

[SantaMonica]

!!!!

[maglofster]

Another two weeks and I have now removed my skimmer since all, and I do mean ALL algae in DT is gone. The system is now ultra low in nutrients and I think the corals show that. Since I'm not going to add stuff from the "small blue bottles" from KZ to keep the SPS happy I'm going to start feeding more and hope that the "natural" way will keep my SPS-collection alive and well just as they are now. Or hopefully even thrive more.

Right now I still have my biopellet reactor running with BP in it. The theory is that the bacteria produced will also (in addition to the food i put in the tank) feed the corals as they are not skimmed away anymore. The danger of low O2-levels should be avoided by running the ATS since it oxygenates the water. To be sure about O2 I will monitor the levels with a redox meter.

I know of one guy in Finland doing this very successfully, although running GFO and Carbon "instead" of the ATS. Since I'm off work for the next five days I will monitor the tank very closely and pull out the BP if I see any negative effects.

I don't think the BP will compete with the ATS they way they would if a skimmer was in use, since N&P is not exported by the pellets anymore. N&P is released from the bacteria when it dies and then taken care of by the ATS.

Yeah yeah, I know that I could just feed more, but since SPS are proven to feed on bacteria I'd like to try this since I already have the system going in the sump.

[Ace25]

Right now I still have my biopellet reactor running with BP in it. The theory is that the bacteria produced will also (in addition to the food i put in the tank) feed the corals as they are not skimmed away anymore.

Wish you luck, but I killed all of my SPS corals and even a few of my fish I had for years within 3 weeks of adding WM Bio-Pellets to my system. I had a good running ATS and got the itch to try out bio-pellets so I put my skimmer back in and put 1/4 the recommended amount of pellets.. lost all my SPS corals in 2 weeks and at week 3 several of my fish died of nasty bateria infections. Never again will I combine the 2.. in my opinion, a person must pick one major filtration method (algae or bacteria, not both) and then you can use secondary filtration methods along with your primary if you wish (carbon, GFO, etc), but in my opinion, you can not use 2 primary types of filtration methods together because one will always outcompete the other, in this case, bacteria will always outcompete algae.

That was my experience.. curious to see how yours goes after a month, so please keep this thread updated often. :)

[maglofster]

I have been running this as a stable system for a year, with biopellets and a skimmer. But since I have had on and off problems with cyano I decided to install an ATS. I kept the skimmer running (as recommended) while the ATS matured and now I have removed it. I'm trying to keep ONLY the BP without the skimmer to export the bacteria. So in my opinion they should not compete, since bacteria is not exported, if not eaten will die and release it's N&P contents again. Since my N&P levels in the water are very low there is not much bacteria produced (or so the theory says anyway) so I think this will work. When the pellets are used up, I will remove my reactor. The primary reason for me removing my skimmer is that I don't want to kill the corals by starving them because the system is now truly an ULNS.

Sorry to hear about your crash. I have heard of a lot of nice systems crashing after BP's have been introduced. I think that's why the European distributor have changed the manual on how to introduce them.

[SantaMonica]

Good to hear your display is clean now.

I've done the vodka-with-no-skimmer thing too. I think what it does is shift some of the biomass from algae to bacteria. If this is true, the system would have an overall lower oxygen level, higher bacteria level, and lower DOC level. If the corals love bacteria more than other stuff, it may help.

[maglofster]

24 hours in. The 02 levels dropped too much for my liking. Out with the BP:s then.. In one hour the O2 level was back up to it's normal high. Right now the redox potential is 411 mV.

So now. I have an Elos 120 with only a SM-100 on top of the sump. :D

[maglofster]

48 hours in without skimmer and 24 hours without BP. A slightly green tint of algae on the back pane of the DT. Nothing else has changed. Well, a lot more particles in the water, but that's good I guess.

[SantaMonica]

Yes the more particles you can see in the water, the more food the corals will have.

[maglofster]

Time will tell friends :)

[maglofster]

72 hours in. My Pavona decussatus which I have had for at least 6 months is extending it's polyps in a way I have never seen before! :)

[maglofster]

Some footage from today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrtbuHzWs8g

[maglofster]

Current FTS:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2293/5804705234_829a1594b7.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/58065777@N04/5804705234/)

[SantaMonica]

Can't wait for that purple guy in the middle to grow to the surface :)

[maglofster]

Two weeks in with only a SM-100 as "filtration". No skimmer, no biopellets or anything else. And.. everything looks really healthy. I have gotten a slight increase in algae growth on glass i DT. I have gotten a major increase in polyp extension. Since i have gotten rid of one pump (skimmer & pellets) the temperature in the tank has gone down a little and I'm expecting to manage the temperatures this summer by only removing the lid of the SM-100 and adding a fan.

[maglofster]

Three weeks in with only an ATS. Corals are thriving.

[maglofster]

In a few days I have had only an ATS as N&P export on this thank for five weeks. No skimmer or anything else. :) So far so good!

Other than that I have changed my 2x150W MH lights for a 300W powerled DIY solution.

[maglofster]

http://youtu.be/YXsJ0PEvbAA

[Ace25]

Nice camera work! What camera do you have? Tank is looking fantastic!

[SantaMonica]

Nice particles of food in the water :)

[maglofster]

Thanks a lot!

I'm starting to be really happy with the progression of the tank. ATS FTW! :)

I'm using a Nikon D7000.

[maglofster]

Now I have been running my tank with only an ATS for two months straight. So I guess I can say that the transition from Skimmer/Biopellets is done and that it's been a success! :)

[maglofster]

Three months straight with only ATS. Works perfect!

I just cleaned my SM-100 and the 3D growth I'm getting is extreme. Looks like someone has left a lot of big dreadlocks inside :)